Such exchangers generally take the form of a body equipped with fluid-circulation tubes and with fins for heat exchange with the outside environment. This body is linked to at least one manifold which distributes the fluid into the circulation tubes.
It is known to assemble one or more secondary exchangers onto a main exchanger, such as a radiator for cooling a motor-vehicle engine, so as to constitute an assembly, also called module, ready to be installed in the vehicle. This secondary exchanger most often consists of a cooler of supercharging air for the engine, an air-conditioning condenser or an oil radiator.
The assembling of the secondary exchanger or exchangers onto the main exchanger is generally achieved by means of lugs integral with the secondary exchanger and of screws inserted into the manifolds of the main exchanger. Systems for assembly by nested fitting or by clipping of the manifolds have also been proposed.
These known assemblies of primary and secondary exchangers exhibit the drawback of requiring operations which are expensive in terms of time and of tooling.
Furthermore, the elements for linking between the main and secondary exchangers take up a certain amount of space which detracts from the compactness of the module.
Moreover, these linking elements exhibit a certain transverse bulk and therefore do not make it possible to have the same exchange surface area available for the main and secondary exchangers.
The present invention aims to remedy these drawbacks.
More particularly, the object of the invention is to supply a heat-exchange module the production of which, and especially the assembling operations, is as simple as possible.
It is also an object of the invention to supply such a heat-exchange module which, as far as possible, includes no assembling pieces between the main and secondary exchangers.
The invention aims, moreover, to supply a method of producing a heat-exchange module requiring no assembly operation or, when that is impossible, including a minimum number of them.
It is also an object of the invention to supply such a heat-exchange module of lesser thickness than those of the prior art.
It is also an object of the invention to supply a heat-exchange module exhibiting enhanced heatexchange characteristics.